Picture and paraphrase by DiVoran Lites
Day 7
Communing
Isaiah 1:18
Beloved,
I want to talk regularly with you in a communion that means we can trust each other and enjoy each other’s company.
You and My other children always have something valuable to say to each other.
You know that I am God and can do anything.
You know that when you talk to me, I hear
You.
You know I care about you as no human ever has.
I will gently teach you to believe.
Picture and Paraphrase by DiVoran Lites
Day 6
Restlessness
Psalms 139
Beloved,
You are one of a kind. I designed you and hand-knit you in your mother’s womb.
You were born human, and therefore, you have many traits and experiences in common with all humanity.
One, you need other humans.
Two, you need food, water, and shelter.
Three, you need something to occupy your body, heart, and soul.
The most outstanding need you have, is Me.
I Am the all-powerful, Father God, and because I now keep you in the palm of my hand, you are able to communicate with me any time, any way you can.
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.”
St. Augustine
Picture and Paraphrase by DiVoran Lites
Day 5
Good News
Hebrews 9:10, 5:13
Beloved,
Here’s an interesting thought.
You don’t need to give blood sacrifices in order to have your sins forgiven.
Your sins are already forgiven because of Jesus’ blood sacrifice for you on the cross. If your conscience speaks to you, we’ll talk it over and get you straight.
We have no barriers between us, no sacrifice necessary.
You may walk right up to my throne, and start talking.
I will give you what you need. You will feel My forgiveness and healing power.
You can keep going through fire, high water, and old age.
Trust that I always keep my promises to you.
Accept eternal forgiveness and forge ahead.
Christ’s sacrifice includes eternal connection with me,
Welcome home child.
Painting and Paraphrase by DiVoran Lites
Day 4
Miracles
Psalm 111:4
Beloved,
Look for miracles every day.
Some may seem small, but take note of them.
Thank me for them, tell others about them.
I give you a lifetime of joy in learning My ways.
Please accept the invitation to be My “best” friend.”
I am the best friend of everyone one in My realm.
I am generous,
You are in My favor.
My plans for you are plans for good.
Your miracles, not your worries make your memories.
You are safe with me.
Let’s talk.
Picture and paraphrase by DiVoran Lites
Day Three
God’s Glory
Philippians 1:9
Beloved,
Immerse yourself in My glory.
Love others as you love yourself,
Even better, love them as I love you:
Unconditionally.
I give you Godly discernment to love wisely.
That is how to make love last.
Let Me into your thoughts so I may guide you.
Let Me show you how to live
A clean and organized life.
When you spend time with Me,
You continually reap bountiful fruits from your soul.
That’s when your Savior is most likely to become
Savior of the people you know.
Picture and paraphrase by DiVoran Lites
Day Two
Trails
Jeremiah 29:10-12
Beloved,
Because you are mine,
My plans for you are real, constant, and good.
You are my design.
My designs are built to last.
You need never tell me what to do or how to do it.
I am the One who knows what to do.
You will not need to “help” Me.
I am the Helper.
All you need to do is ask Me how to pray.
Ask Me what you need to plan for.
Listen and intuit my answers.
Wait.
I show you how to live the life I have planned for you,
As you travel along the trails I have cleared ahead of you.
Watch, as wonderful, unexpected things begin to happen.
Painting and Paraphrase by DiVoran Lites
Day One
Trees of the Hills
Isaiah 55:8-13
Beloved,
My thoughts are not your thoughts,
You receive my thoughts to replace your thoughts,
You follow My ways which are not your ways.
Now the mountains and the hills sing.
The trees of the fields clap their hands.
You are led forth in light and joy.
You are filled with truth, grace, and peace.
My Take
DiVoran Lites
On Saturday morning my son and I set out for Titusville in separate vehicles. He took his trailer so he could put the shutters back in storage. He didn’t get any breakfast because he planned to eat at a drive-through. All of those were swamped. So he decided to go on and though I had planned to get gas I decided I had enough because the lines were long.
We got home while the day was still young. The power was out, but I had my cell phone so I called my neighbor had been looking after my cats to tell her I was home. She came right down to deliver the house key. We’ve known each other for almost fifty years and our children played together when they were small. After I made our son a chicken-salad sandwich, (yes, I could tell the mayonnaise from the refrigerator was still fine because he didn’t get sick) he got to work setting up the generator. He had done his own shutters and generator for the storm at his house. So at my house he was an experienced starter-upper. As I followed him around and we casually visited, he said he was enjoying himself tinkering with the generator. He also said he didn’t envy the house-cleaning I had in store, which I assumed meant he preferred machines to dust-cloths.
He finished starting the generator and taking down the shutters by noon. He took the shutters in the trailer and I drove my car so I could bring the key back home. He then took off in search of a fast food line he could get through. My neighbor told me later that he stopped at her son’s house to say hello.
Our power was out for five days. Dear son-in law-gassed up the generator and it ran another fifteen hours keeping the food cold and giving me places in the house where there was light as well as a room AC in our former garage. Our yard man came and set to work cleaning up after the storm. Our lawn men came. They did their work and asked if I needed any more help. One of them was getting married the following Saturday. He indicated that he’d much rather be mowing lawns than tending to his fiancé and her mother as they fretted over the wedding plans.
One of the neighbors came by and noticed the tire was flat on my car. Later that evening, I discussed it with my husband over the phone and he told me just what to do—get the yard man to help me fill it at the gas station I watched carefully and I now I can do it by myself if I have to.
The next day, five houses on my side of the street had power, but I didn’t know it until my neighbor told me. I still had no power. I called my daughter and she asked if there were any line men around. There sure were…just across the street. I walked over to talk to them and apparently, it was the way the generator was permanently wired into the house and had something to do with pulling plugs and turning on breakers to get it on. He started to explain it, but sometimes my short-term memory takes a break, so when he said he’d come help if I had any trouble I asked him if he could come right then, before I burned the house down. I’ve had a fear of electricity ever since I was a small child. It’s my very first memory. I saw an electrical outlet in the wall and a bobby-pin on the floor. My baby brain said they belonged together. I stuck the metal bobby pin in the electrical outlet and va-va-voom. It fit. I got quite a buzz out of that.
The linemen had come from Indiana which is where my husband was. I asked the lineman about his family and about the hours they were working. He had three children and was now working sixteen hours on and eight off. He was cheerful. He missed his family, but to all the men I met the challenges seemed as if they were welcome adventures.
Today on my walk I heard the shrill screams of children coming from the school grounds up the street. When I got there, I saw a line of kindergartners looking small against a huge fire engine. They were watching a demonstration of the distance a fire hose could shoot into a retention pond. Every time the fireman who was hunkered down with the hose made an archway of water, the children cheered. The two men with the fire engine were as slow-moving and patient with the children as could be. Surely they were man-angels, too.
The End
My Take
DiVoran Lites
I appreciated my caring family’s offers to drive me to our son’s and wife’s house, but I knew I was perfectly capable of driving myself to Orange City. It turned out to be the best vacation I’ve had in a long time. Because we are all busy, active, and productive, we have not had much time to talk lately. Now we did and it was glorious. I see my daughter because she lives closer, but my daughter-in-love and I have enjoyed conversations since we first met, so we were glad of the opportunity to catch up.
The evening of the storm we three sat and talked after supper. That night in my absent granddaughter’s beautiful room, I heard the wind and rain and something flapping, but I had my earplugs in and I felt loved and safe, so I didn’t have much trouble going to sleep. The power went out the next day, so we had no electricity, but the shutters were off and we did have plenty of water. We made up a hurricane casserole, using cooked wild rice layered with spinach and turkey-roast chunks. The man-angel cooked it on the outside grill with the lid down. It tasted delicious and the man-angel finished it off after we two ladies were full. It was a meal to remember. Every light in the house went on after we finished it.
On Friday afternoon people began coming out of their houses and driving by in their cars. We heard chains saws revving up and trees protesting as the half blown-over ones came to rest on the forest floor. I talk to myself sometimes, so I asked myself: “What shall I do now?” I had some writing to do and a good book to read and daughter-in-love had a puzzle. But she came right into my self-talk and made the wonderful suggestion that we go for a walk now that the storm was over. We got the dog’s lead and ventured out. It is a semi-rural neighborhood and the pastures were green and the fresh air smelled of cedar and pine. We discovered we had two more miles worth of talking to do.
Laika
We saw a large herd of domestic Alpacas that came right up to the fence, to say hello to Laika.
Alpacas
At another property, something ran down a small incline from the house to greet us. We thought, from the way it trotted, that it was a small black and white dog, but it turned out to be a little pig instead.
Tuxedo pig
We then saw two sand-hill cranes in a field and our menagerie felt complete.
To be continued
My Take
DiVoran Lites
I would like to present a new word, unless somebody already has come up with it. The word is man-angels. It means earthly angels who happen to be men of the human race. Now, I imagine there could be all kinds of theological discussions over this. I wonder if God’s angels from Heaven have any similarity to us, but let’s imagine they do.
The name came to me during the recent hurricane which, strangely, had the same name as a book in the Bible: Matthew. The media announced that a terrible storm was on its way. Everyone took it seriously. In the fifty years we’ve lived in Brevard County, we have never known such destruction as was predicted for the night of October 6, 2016. We were given a mental picture of a blitzed and destroyed land.
Because my husband was away at the time, I became a woman alone. Might I say elderly woman alone. Bill knew he had made our house safe enough for 150 mile an hour winds, and frankly neither of us was worried about it except for one thing: I knew I would be scared in the house alone when the big one struck in the middle of the night. Our daughter hoped I wouldn’t be so frightened that I would get sick. Our son reckoned I could get hurt, especially if rain got under the shingles and the roof lifted off, a very real danger with hurricanes.
Our daughter was at home with her husband, looking after a family member who has dementia. She called her brother and asked if he could drive to Titusville from Orange City and put up the shutters. He asked his grown son to meet him here. They came at night because the next day, they were both expected to work, at least from home. The put up the shutters in the dark Wednesday night. They were soaking wet from the humidity even though it wasn’t raining yet. Fortunately we had repellant for the hungry mosquitoes and flashlights to see by. We also had light-weight, clear, shutters. They left here close to midnight for their respective homes an hour away. Man-angels.
I really did plan to stay. I’d be with my two cats and we’d get through it. Besides, I most definitely did not want to pack a suitcase. On Wednesday our daughter texted that she thought it would be good for me to go ahead to Orange City because the threats were dire. Then our son called and asked me again to come.
Then he set up a group text. Dad, Mom daughter, son, and son’s wife. We started texting like crazy. My husband who was in Ohio, was needed for lots of advice about where things were and what actions he had set up in case of such a storm. It was family communication par excellence! We even laughed a bit. Our daughter came to the house and helped me prepare for the storm.
After the warnings became even more threatening, our daughter and son each called me and insisted it would be better to go to Orange City for the duration of the storm. They answered all my objections calmly and reasonably. No one became impatient. They are negotiators and diplomats. I heard their concerns and decided to go. Our daughter offered to drive me and our daughter-in-law offered to come and get me, an hour each way for either of them. A mom loves to be so looked after and I was no exception.
To Be Continued
Old Things R New 